A group of Chinese ESL students recently discussed their immigrant experiences with a 14-year-old Sephardic Jewish immigrant from Europe in the early 20th century — part of a historical exhibition at Lower Manhattan’s Tenement Museum, Feet in Two Worlds reported.

Under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, young undocumented immigrants can apply for a two-year reprieve from deportation, but many potential applicants still have questions about how the plan will work. The New York Immigration Coalition and other organizations addressed some of these questions at a forum last week, reported the World Journal.

Khazar Fatemi and her family fled violence in Afganistan when she was 8, and moved to Sweden, where she grew up to became a successful journalist on a national television station. After September 11, 2001, Fatemi felt a need rediscover her roots, and explore her memories of Afghanistan, so she returned to her birthplace to film her documentary, “Where My Heart Beats.” Fatemi sat down for this video interview with Voices of NY on a recent visit to New York City.

Voices of NY’s Indrani Sen appeared on WNYC this afternoon to discuss reactions from the ethnic and community press to Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential pick, Paul Ryan, and coverage of President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals plan.

At Baruch College yesterday, city and federal government officials offered pointers and took questions about the new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which started accepting applications on Wednesday.

Russkaya Reklama looks into why the usual 30,000 Russian-speaking youths that come to America on J-1 summer work visas dropped to only 8,000 this year, and reports that enforcement has tightened because of illegal practices including false employment contracts, prostitution and bank fraud schemes.

Today marks the kick-off of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program. We have a selection of stories on this milestone, as well as a video on how Muslim food vendors fast during Ramadan and a feature on the first Latino to play the lead role in an Italian festival in El Barrio.

In today’s news from New York’s ethnic and community press: advice and resources for undocumented immigrants seeking “deferred action” under a new plan; a Chinese-bilingual charter school in Flushing; and a Dominican food safety scare has repercussions for a Bronx-based salami company.

Through its new Multilingual Resource Center, information and forms from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website will now be available in 22 languages, and questions from the naturalization test will be published in seven languages. These changes were reported by Russian Bazaar and Korea Daily.

After anti-government protests in Moscow on May 6th, thousands of Russians were arrested and some now face criminal charges and the possibility of 10-year sentences. In light of that, we have translated a piece from Russkaya Reklama in which a political refugee was interviewed about his experience adapting to life in the U.S..

In the 21st-century United States, employees of the country’s immigration agency can say whatever they like, without any consequences, including declaring that they will not follow presidential directives or those of their [agency] superiors.

Ten weeks since the Secure Communities information-sharing system between police and immigration authorities went into effect in New York City, The Indypendent examines how the controversial program has played out in immigrant communities.

As the White House urged Congress to withhold $600 million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico, officials responded angrily that this is only the latest in a series of President Trump’s attempts to stop the flow of federal aid to the island, El Nuevo Día reports. Political analyst Domingo Emanuelli found the Trump government's actions “barbaric,” and urged Puerto Rican Republicans to reconsider their allegiance. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said: “I shouted against Trump’s abuses from the start while others were chummy with him. Trump is not the plantation owner and we are not his slaves.” Link to original story →

The Indigenous Peoples March being held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, a day ahead of the Women's March, will bring together groups from Puerto Rico to South America and Central America, reports Remezcla, to focus attention on issues from voter suppression to human trafficking to police brutality to what is called an “environmental holocaust” by activists. “I think it’s a collective cry for help because we’re in a time of crisis that we have not seen in a very long time,” says Nathalie Farfan, an Ecuadorean Indigenous woman and event organizer. Link to original story →

After vowing to create a more inclusive school system in North Carolina, the Durham Board of Education introduced a new department of second language services to serve newly-arrived immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language, Qué Pasa Noticias reports. One of the main goals of the initiative will be to coordinate a translation and interpretation system to help families participate in their children’s education. “As our Latinx population keeps growing we keep opening our schools’ doors to those arriving from all over the world,” said Superintendent Pascal Mubenga. Link to original story →

With Sen. Kamala Harris expected to announce her decision on a presidential run, The American Bazaar asks members of the Indian-American community about the potential candidacy of the California native. While some celebrated the possibility of Harris, who is of Jamaican-Indian descent, running amid the current political atmosphere, others say the country is "still not ready for a female president and certainly not a non-white." Link to original story →